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Elektra
Elektra is a 2005 superhero film directed by Rob Bowman. It is a spin-off from the 2003 film Daredevil, starring the Marvel comics character Elektra Natchios (played by Jennifer Garner). The story follows Elektra, an international assassin whose weapon of choice is a pair of sai. For the screenplay, Zak Penn, Stuart Zicherman and Raven Metzner received "written by" credit. Mark Steven Johnson received credit for "motion picture characters" and Frank Miller for "comic book characters." Plot After being killed, Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner) is revived by a blind martial arts master called Stick (Terrence Stamp). She is brought to his training compound to learn Kimagure, an ancient martial arts discipline that provides its practitioners with precognition as well as the ability to resurrect the dead. Elektra is soon expelled because of her inability to let go of her rage. She leaves and uses her training to become a contract killer. Years Later, Elektra infiltrates a heavily-guarded area, kills the guards, and manages to slay her target DeMarco (Jason Isaacs). Elektra's agent McCabe (Colin Cunningham) receives an unusually large offer from an anonymous client wishing to hire Elektra's services. The only stipulation; she must spend a few days in a rented home on the island where the assassination is to be performed before the names of the targets are revealed. During the wait, Elektra is shown swimming in the ocean while remembering a memory of her childhood of her father putting her through swimming pool training. After a swim in the ocean, Elektra uses her abilities where she finds a girl Abby (Kirsten Prout) who tried to swipe Elektra's necklace and Elektra sends her away. While meditating, Elektra meets and befriends Abby's father Mark Miller (Goran Visnjic) who apologizes for what his daughter did. Abby later invites Elektra to dinner on Mark's behalf. Later that day, Elektra discovers that Abby, like Elektra herself, has obsessive compulsive disorder. Elektra develops a romantic interest in Mark, but soon learns he and Abby are the targets she has been hired to kill. Elektra spares them and leaves, but later returns in time to protect them from replacement assassins sent by The Hand, a crime syndicate of ninja mercenaries. Meanwhile, Roshi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), master of The Hand, learns of the failed attempt and permits his son Kirigi (Will Yun Lee) to lead a new team of assassins to kill Elektra and return with Abby, referred to as "The Treasure." Elektra tries to leave Abby and Mark with Stick, but he scolds her into protecting them herself. She then drives Mark and Abby to McCabe's country house for safety, but is followed by Kirigi, Typhoid (Natassia Malthe), Stone (Bob Sapp), Kinkou (Edison T. Ribeiro), and Tattoo (Chris Ackerman). Elektra senses Kirigi and the assassins presence as they arrive and flees with Mark and Abby through a secret underground exit to the orchard, while McCabe makes a stand to allow them time to escape. After killing McCabe, Kirigi and the assassins hunt down Elektra, Mark, and Abby in the forest nearby. Elektra battles Stone and tricks him into breaking down a large tree which crushes him. Abby and Mark defend themselves against Kinkou, killing him with one of his own daggers. Elektra witnesses Abby in action and is surprised to learn she possesses martial arts skills. As Elektra is distracted by the revelation, Typhoid gives her a poisonous kiss of death, completely incapacitating Elektra. Abby attempts to intervene, but is captured by Kirigi. Suddenly, Stick and his Chaste ninjas arrive and rescue Abby, Mark, and Elektra from Kirigi and his assassins. They return to Stick's training compound where he confirms Abby is a coveted martial arts prodigy whom the Hand seek to use for evil purposes. Elektra, now cured of Typhoid's poison, learns that Stick arranged the murder contract on Mark and Abby in order to test Elektra's propensity for compassion. In an effort to allow Abby to lead a normal life, Elektra astrally projects herself to a meeting with Kirigi and challenges him to a fight; the winner claiming Abby for their own purpose. Elektra returns to her childhood home to face Kirigi, and finally remembers he was her mother's killer. Elektra, battling with her sai daggers, is defeated by Kirigi, but as he prepares to kill her, Abby arrives and engages him long enough for Elektra to recuperate. Elektra and Abby then escape and hide in a hedge maze but are separated when Abby is captured by snakes dispatched by Tattoo. Elektra finds Tattoo and kills him by breaking his neck while he is in his animal-controlling trance. Elektra once again encounters Kirigi, and manages to kill him by anticipating his superhuman speed during an attack and stabbing him with her sai. Jealous of Abby's status as the Treasure, Typhoid poisons her, but is then killed by Elektra. Elektra carries Abby's body back inside the house and successfully revives her, completing her journey to becoming a Kimagure master. Elektra says her goodbyes to Mark and Abby. As she leaves the house, Elektra is greeted by Stick who remarks that second lives can often be better than the first. Cast * Jennifer Garner as Elektra Natchios * Terence Stamp as Stick * Goran Višnjić as Mark Miller * Kirsten Prout as Abby Miller * Will Yun Lee as Kirigi * Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Roshi * Colin Cunningham as McCabe * Hiro Kanagawa as Meizumi * Natassia Malthe as Typhoid * Bob Sapp as Stone * Chris Ackerman as Tattoo * Edison T. Ribeiro as Kinkou * Jana Mitsoula as Elektra's Mother * Kurt Max Runte as Nikolas Natchios * Laura Ward as Young Elektra * Jason Isaacs as DeMarco (uncredited) Ben Affleck reprised his role as Matt Murdock / Daredevil in a cameo, but was cut from the final film. The scene was included on the DVD as a deleted scene. Release Box office performance Elektra opened on January 14, 2005 in the United States in 3,204 theatres. In its opening weekend it ranked 5th, taking $12,804,793.Must Have Content In its second weekend it took $3,964,598, a drop of 69 percent.Elektra (2005) - Weekend Box Office Results Accessed 2008-08-31 Domestically the total gross was $24,409,722, at the time the lowest for a movie featuring a Marvel Comics character since Howard the Duck. The film had a worldwide total of $56,681,566.Although both movie adaptations of "Howard, the Duck" and Elektra did fail to meet their expected revenues at the box office, both did manage to make their respective gross budgets back, and make a reasonable small profit, with Elektra adding around an estimated $12,000,000, whereas Howard, the Duck added a little over $1,000,000 to meet its production budget In fact, the only movie adaptation based on a Marvel Comic Book character that was released in both American and worldwide cinemas that not only failed at the box office to meet its expected profit gross, but also failed to meet its estimated production value budget was the "Punisher: War Zone," in 2008. Critical reception Elektra received generally negative reviews from film critics. Based on 143 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes Elektra earned a 10% "rotten" rating.Rotten Tomatoes Accessed August 30, 2008 Also Metacritic gives it a metascore of 34 out of 100 which means it has "generally negative reviews".Elektra (2005) Metacritic Elektra was named 74th on Franz Grubers worst 100 movies list. Home video The DVD of Elektra was released on April 5, 2005. It featured several deleted scenes, including one featuring a cameo of Ben Affleck who starred as the title character in ''Daredevil'', which preceded this film. An extended and slightly refined two-disc unrated edition director's cut DVD was released in October 2005, featuring a cut detailed for a home video. However, unlike the Daredevil director's cut which added about 30 minutes of material not in the original theatrical release, this director's cut added only about three minutes of footage. It was also criticized for poor video transfer.IGN: Electra (Unrated Director's Cut) Review. Accessed 2008-08-30 A Blu-ray Disc of Elektra was released on October 19, 2009 for the United Kingdom (and France) only. The U.S. version was released on May 4, 2010. It contains only the unrated cut of the film. Video game Elektra was also supposed to have a video game based on the movie with support from the comics. The game was never released, as publishers felt it would not be popular enough. However, there is a game based on the movie that was released for mobile. Trivia *Many actresses were considered for the role of Elektra, including Penelope Cruz, Salma Hayek, Natalie Portman, Lucy Liu, Jessica Alba, Jolene Balock, Mia Maestro, Rhona Mitra and Katie Holmes. *In Daredevil, Elektra lacks her trademark red suit because the colour wasn't suitable for hiding a harness. In Elektra, the costume of the protagonist is more similar to the one in the comics, but it's still different from the original because the latter wasn't big enough to protect Jennifer Garner's skin during stunt sequences. *For Elektra, it was originally intended that, along with her trademark red suit, Elektra would also wear a pair of large gold hoop earrings as part of her costume. Although the costume department did provide a pair of earrings, Jennifer Garner didn't wear them as they were for pierced ears, which she didn't have at the time. References External links * Elektra at Marvel.com * * * * * *